Strange Weather (film)

Strange Weather is a 2016 drama film written and directed by Katherine Dieckmann. It was screened in the Gala Presentations section at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival.[2] The film was released theatrically on July 28, 2017.[3]

Strange Weather
Film poster
Directed byKatherine Dieckmann
Produced byRachel Cohen
Jana Edelbaum
Written byKatherine Dieckmann
StarringHolly Hunter
Carrie Coon
Music bySharon Van Etten
CinematographyDavid Rush Morrison
Edited byMadeleine Gavin
Distributed byNetflix (international excl. Japan)
Brainstorm Media (North America)[1]
Release date
  • September 13, 2016 (2016-09-13) (TIFF)
  • July 28, 2017 (2017-07-28)
Running time
92 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

Seven years prior to the events of the film, Walker Baylor killed himself at the age of 24. His mother Darcy learns that Mark Wright stole her son's business plan and now operates a chain of Hot Dawg shops in New Orleans, even using a Southern folksy ad about getting a hot dog every Saturday with his mom, which is actually a childhood memory of Darcy and Walker. Darcy gets her old boyfriend Clayton to give her the gun used by her son to kill himself. She and her friend Byrd embark on a road trip to see Mark. Along the way, they visit friends of Walker to fill in facts of his last day. They go to Darcy's hometown to visit her childhood friend Mary Lou. The visit Walker's father, who is now 70 and in a nursing home. While drinking, Byrd lets slip she and Walker had sex once. In fact, Byrd was in love with the depressed young man. She suffered as much as Darcy, and tells her she didn't know everything about her son. Darcy continues to New Orleans alone.

Once there, Darcy poses as an interested buyer of a Hot Dawg franchise. She quizzes Mark about how he started the business. Eventually, she quotes her son's business plan and reveals her real name to Mark. Then she pulls out Walker's gun as Mark begs for his life. She puts the gun under her own chin but Mark wrestles it free. He asks her how much money does she want, but she only wants to know how her son died. He explains what he knows, confesses he was always the lonely rich kid and jealous of the love Walker got from Darcy. He stole Walker's plan to prove his worth to his father.

As Darcy drives home, she throws Walker's gun in a river. She buries in her backyard the clothes he died in, which had been collected by the police in an evidence bag. As she cries, she wishes she could hold his hand just one last time. The next day she goes to find Clayton and embraces him in the street.

Cast

Reception

Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 58% based on 24 reviews, with an average rating of 6.05/10.[4]

Susan Wloszczyna of RogerEbert.com described Strange Weather as "a rather dour road-trip movie" and, while admiring "the delicious details that Holly Hunter injects into her performance", concluded that "not even Hunter, who eventually wears out her welcome, can keep Strange Weather from going off the cliff."[5] Ben Kenigsberg wrote in the New York Times that the film is "a case of excellent actors' straining to elevate a contrived screenplay", and one that ultimately delivers "a catharsis more meaningful for [Hunter's] character than for her audience."[6]

References
  1. Barraclough, Leo. "Netflix, Brainstorm Pick Up Holly Hunter Drama 'Strange Weather' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
  2. "Toronto To Open With 'The Magnificent Seven'; 'La La Land', 'Deepwater Horizon' Among Galas & Presentations". Deadline. July 26, 2016. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  3. "'Strange Weather' Director: 'I'm Exhausted By' Hollywood's Portrayal Of Older Women". EW.com. Retrieved December 10, 2018.
  4. "Strange Weather (2017)", Rotten Tomatoes, Fandango Media, retrieved May 11, 2020
  5. Wloszczyna, Susan (2017). "Strange Weather Movie Review & Film Summary (2017) | Roger Ebert". www.rogerebert.com. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
  6. Kenigsberg, Ben (2017). "Review: Holly Hunter and Carrie Coon Try to Redeem 'Strange Weather'". New York Times. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
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